Heater for gaseous fuel.



W. R. LAYNE.

HEATER FOR GASEOUS FUEL. APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 26, 1913.

1,100,894. v I PatentedJune23,1914.

WILLIAM B. LAYNE, 0F LOS ANGELES, GALIFQRNIA,

EEATER FOR GASEOUS FUEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

3 Application filed August 25, 1913. Serial No, 756,467.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, WILLIAM Ronnn'r LAYNE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county ofLos Angeles, State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Heaters for Gaseous Fuel, of which the following is a specification.

Thisinvention relates to a heater adapted to thoroughly heat and vaporize the liquid fuel used in internal combustion engines by heating the fuel as it passes to the engine from the carbureter, the heat of the exhaust gases being used for that purpose; and the invention consists in certain details of improvement and in certain specific forms to be hereinafter fully pointed out.

t is the object of this invention to provide an extremely simplified form of intake heater which can readily be applied to any internal combustion engine and which will operate to efiectively heat, and perfect the vaporization of, fuel passing to the engine; with the consequence that heavier oils or distillates may be used for fuel than is possible without perfected vaporization.

There are several features of my invention which I would particularly emphasize, and one of these features is the design of the device which permits it to be formed in one single casting. The heat conducting means within the device are formed integrally with the body of the heater; and this provision makes not only for great simplicity but also for great eiiiciency in heat conduction.

Another feature of my device is its construction to insure long life without the necessity for renewals or repairs.

I have illustrated a preferred form of my invention in the accompanying drawings; in which,

Figure 1 is an elevation showing anengine equipped with my improved device, Fig. 2 is a horizontal section showing the heating device itself, Fig. 3 is a section taken as indicated by line AA of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a section taken as indicated by line B-B of Fig. 2.

In the drawings the numeral 10 may designate an internal combustion engine of any common type, 11 the exhaust manifold and 12 the intake manifold thereof. The carbureter is shown at 13.

My heater 14 is adapted to be placed directly upon the carburetor 13, beingpreferably secured thereto through the medium of upper flange 13 and bolts 15. The intake manifold 12 is similarly attached at the upper end of my heater through medium of flanges 12 and bolts 16. This is the pre ferred form of attachment; although other forms may be us d if de red- My heater consists in a single casting iiaving an intake passage 29 vertically therethrough, the passage 20 beingzformed within a preferably circular wall 1. Heat conduction bars, which are solid, are indicated at 2 2 and are cast into rally with the body of the heater and wit the Wall 21 of the ntake passage, ext nding r ns er ely ros the intake passage and united at each end with the passage wall. The exhaust passage 25 extends around the wall 21, being bounded by that wall on its inside and bounded by exterior wall 26 on its outside. The exhaust pipe 11 connects with the heater at one side through the opening 27, feeding the exhaust of the engine through the exhaust passage 25. The exhaust is led from the heater by a pipe 11 to atmosphere or to a muffler, as may be desired. The pipes 11 and 11 fit into the openings 27 and are preferably secured therein by a simple means which mayconsist of pins 28 which pass through the flanges 29 surrounding, the opening 27 and pass through the pipes 11 and 11 In the operation of my device the carbureter 13 acts in the normal manner to supply carbureted mixture, which may be from fuel of a heavier grade than now in common use. It is one of the several objects of my device to make it possible to use a heavy inexpensive form of fuel. The carbureter mixture passes upwardly through the heater through the intake passage 20 and thus to the engine. The heater exhaust gases flow through the passage 25 and heat the body of the heater by direct contact and radiation. The wall 21 is heated, and the bars 22 are heated by direct conductionfrom the wall. The barsbeing solid and being cast integrally with the wall, obtain heat therefrom very efliciently and conduct such heat to the interior of the intake passage 20. v The amount of heat supplied to the carburetor mixture inlthe inta e passage may be regulated by proper design of the passage 20 and ofthe conduction bars 22. In the drawings I have shown the relative proportions of a device for using a grade of fuel com- Patented June 23, 31914. g

mercially known as engine distillate, being a fuel having a gravity of about 50 to 55 degrees Baum. The temperature of the exhaust gases is relatively high; and one object in making my heater an integral casting is to prevent deterioration which would otherwise be caused by the high heating from the exhaust gases. With the conduction bars cast solid and integrally with the wall 21, there is no possibility of the bars being burned out by the heat of the exhaust gases or of being broken from connection with the wall 21 by the expansion and contraction of the device due to said heating and subsequent cooling.

- Having described a preferred form of my invention, I claim:

1. A heater for gaseous fuel comprising a body of single integral casting having a vertical circular fuel passage therethrough inclosed within a vertical circular wall, solid heat conduction bars extending transversely across the intake passage and having integral connection at each end with said cirmo est cular wall thereof, and a passage for heat ing fluid surrounding said circular wall and inclosed entirely within the body of the heater, said passage having inlet and outlet I of the body, sub- W. R. LAYNE.

Witnesses:

JAMEs T. BARKELEW, Dan. L. HOFFMAN. 

